Daniel 4

(March 15, 2015)

                There are those who will make a huge deal about the change in narrative perspective in Alma 56:52 when Helaman’s letter was abridged by Mormon and the first-person narration was replaced by third-person narration for that verse.  I have seen those who have viewed this change as though it was ‘proof’ that the Book of Mormon was a fraud.

                But here we have an authentic historical document (redacted much closer in time to the original than was Helaman’s record) that does the same thing.  Notice the change in perspective starting in verse 28 and continuing until verse 33 – with no effort to change from a description of the writing of Nebuchadnezzar to the redactor’s own words, the viewpoint just changes.  I don’t know that this proves much (I certainly cannot argue that it proves a technique of ancient abridgement practices), but what it does prove is that Alma 56:52 is not, by its nature, evidence of Joseph Smith’s ‘fraud’ the way opponents of the Book of Mormon want it to be perceived.